Preparations
Let us start off by welcoming y’all to a glance back at the madness that led up to my attendance at the Austin Open. Also, let’s not forget a heartfelt hello!
Over the span of this last year, I’ve attended a reasonable number of the Texas-based events. Because I have never counted myself among the more highly competitive individuals of any game I’ve played on the tabletop over the past 20 years, I came up with an idea to run as many Armiger-class Knights as possible. Knights are an army I’ve owned and played since starting my adventure into Warhammer 40k, so I was fairly comfortable with the concept. However, Chaos Knights had gotten a relatively new lease on life at the time and… Needless to say, I really liked their style of play.
Just prior to venturing out to my first event, Clutch City GT, good ol’ GW released a points update that saw me scrambling to go from my initial 12 War Dogs to a nifty and (hilariously) odd 13. Without recounting my successes and failures entirely, the overall goal of having fun and giving my opponent something to scratch their head at was ultimately achieved throughout each and every event.
However, if y’all recall what I said in Ettin’s first article, I was not intending to take the War Dogs to the Austin Open. In fact, I had been actively practicing with my Sisters of Battle. WarZone Houston was going to be the Dogs’ last outing until a new Codex was released. I placed 6th… Which felt amazing and like a stellar way to send them off until they got an update. Then GW went and gave us the Balance Dataslate and the most potent of reasons for why I wasn’t going to run the ol’ Dogs vanished instantly…
I could now play the Objectives. Thus the Dogs of War were unleashed with an unashamed amount of excitement on the Austin Open.
Day 1
Having arrived earlier in the day Thursday, everything I needed to prep was done that evening. I was still buzzing with excitement from the overwhelming positive energy thrown my way from several of the event staff during check in the night before. Add that while talking with Chad prior to the first round starting, we were approached about potentially playing on Stream and doing interviews - the War Dogs and I were ready!
For those interested, you can view my list below.
Dread House Ettin MK-II
Super-Heavy Detachment 0CP – Chaos Knights – 1,985pts – 12 Command Points
Custom Household – Dark Forging & Harrying Packs
War Dogs (280pts)
-War Dog (Warlord/Dreadblade) (140pts): Thermal Spear & Reaper Chain-cleaver, Meltagun, Knight Diabolus (Trait), Rune of Nak’T’Graa (Relic), Forsaken (Damnation), Daemonic Vigour (Pact)
-War Dog (140pts): Thermal Spear & Reaper Chain-cleaver, Meltagun
War Dogs (465)
-War Dog (155): Two War Dog Autocannons, Heavy Stubber
-War Dog (155): Two War Dog Autocannons, Heavy Stubber
-War Dog (155): Two War Dog Autocannons, Heavy Stubber
War Dog Moirax (310)
-War Dog Moirax (155): Siege Claw & Rad Cleanser, Lightning Lock
-War Dog Moirax (155): Siege Claw & Rad Cleanser, Lightning Lock
War Dog Moirax (465)
-War Dog Moirax (155): Graviton Pulsar (x2)
-War Dog Moirax (155): Graviton Pulsar (x2)
-War Dog Moirax (155): Lightning Lock (x2)
War Dog Moirax (465)
-War Dog Moirax (155): Lightning Lock (x2)
-War Dog Moirax (155): Lightning Lock (x2)
-War Dog Moirax (155): Graviton Pulsar (x2)
Now, onward to the battlefield.
Game 1 - John T. - Sisters of Battle
Mission: Scorched Earth
Speaking of playing on Stream… You can catch this game on Warhammer’s Twitch channel.
My Secondaries:
- Stranglehold
- Assassinate
- To the Last - All the War Dogs with double guns
John’s Secondaries:
- Leap of Faith
- Bring it Down
- Retrieve Data
I’m going Second.
John and I were playing on the new Ork table setup. Definitely wasn’t upset about the lower walls as this meant my taller models threatened the board at a much greater level. Particularly with Dark Forging. That extra 6” range really came in handy throughout my games.
Overall the match was enjoyable. John expressed to me that the Austin Open was his real first major event and, understandably, he and I were both nervous about being on Stream. While I went second in our game, ultimately I did win. John went on the defensive primarily and I took full advantage of the new Objective Secured rules for my War Dogs and played aggressively in return. Ultimately, my goal was to pin him into his side of the table, which I managed to do. Nevertheless, Celestine cleaned up a lot of the mess I was making and managed to score John 14 points on Bring it Down.
Final Score - 94 to 66 - War Dogs take the victory.
Game 2 - Josh C. - Necrons
Mission: Retrieval
My Secondaries:
- Stranglehold
- Assassinate
- To The Last - All the War Dogs with double guns
Josh’s Secondaries:
- Bring it Down
- Ancient Machinery
- Purge the Vermin
I’m going Second.
Necrons! Josh had two detachments, one with the standard Eternal Expansionist combo, but the other going straight Szarekhan. After we talked through our lists, I was really ready to give the ObSec Necrons a go with my new rules. I knew there was some risk in my Secondaries, but… I felt confident about my choices.
As seen in the image above, Josh ended up having very little he could target on his first turn. He stepped out and while we had a lot of fun with one another, there was some regret in realizing he could have been a bit more defensive. I essentially cleared the center table of all Necron presence and jumped onto his side of the table with every melee threat I had. Two explosions took out some key characters and brought his Nightbringer down to where, turn two, I would be more than capable of removing it from play. By the end of the game, the board was swarming with War Dogs, I had only lost out on Stranglehold for one turn and Josh managed to remove all of two War Dogs.
Final Score - 95 to 41 - The War Dogs bring it home.
Game 3 - Anthony V. - Druhkari
Mission: Surround & Destroy
My Secondaries:
- Stranglehold
- Bring it Down
- To the Last
Anthony’s Secondaries:
- Herd the Prey
- Bring it Down
- Retrieve Data
I’m going First.
Up to this point, I was riding high on the Balance Dataslate changes. Already I had witnessed the glory of counting as 5 bodies on an Objective and being ObSec. My game against Anthony curbed that enthusiasm and brought me back to the reality that I’m still running an old Codex and there are just things I simply lack… Like a viable save when it comes to melee.
Anthony’s list was phenomenal. Our game was a lot of fun. Even despite my ultimate loss. Anthony’s dice were hot and that 5+ FNP was really getting put to work throughout the entirety of our match. Enough so that I simply could not chew through the lumbering and thundering approach of the Talos and Chronos fast enough to turn around and handle the wave of swirling death that followed. Nevertheless, the highlight of this match was I had a total of seven War Dogs explode on his models. Which gave us a lot of great laughs.
Final Score - 60 to 97 - Time for the War Dogs to rest a bit…
Day 2
Day two! This was an educational one for me. I learned some valuable lessons and had easily the best game of Warhammer 40k ever to date. So, buckle up… This may get a tad lengthy.
Game 5 - Sam W. - Freebooterz
Sweep & Clear
My Secondaries:
- Stranglehold
- Direct Assault
- Bring it Down
Sam’s Secondaries:
- Retrieve Data
- Engage on all Fronts
- Bring it Down
I’m going Second.
I’ve actually known Sam for some time now. Outside of a large Apocalypse event, we actually haven’t had the pleasure of playing one another. Definitely not at the competitive level. Nevertheless, I will fully admit that my “anxiety” about squaring off against Freebooterz really showed up in force. I knew this was going to be one of the more difficult matchups for me - especially after my previous game highlighted that anything with some real durability against damage could lead me to being run over almost entirely. And that is exactly what this match started out feeling like.
Now, I should explain that I do enjoy competitive play. Tournaments in general are one of the few ways I can hammer out a series of games guilt-free. And generally speaking, everyone is on the same wavelength. Otherwise, my time is fairly limited. But, while I like to play competitively, I am far more interested in having fun. And if I get to that breaking point… I walk away. This almost never has to do with my opponent. Often it comes down to a lengthy stretch of bad dice rolls or just a matchup that has my list getting pounded into scrap. Either way, I know that if I stop having fun and start becoming a grump, it could just as easily ruin my opponent’s time. Which isn’t something I want either.
As you might have guessed, I had reached that point in my game with Sam.
Sam, however… Wouldn’t just let me walk away. He taught me a valuable lesson as he explained the way things looked from his side of the table. We played out another round and everything flipped in my favor dramatically. I really, really do owe him for that. Especially because he talked me into (spoiler) beating him.
Final Score - 100 to 64 - War Dogs owe Sam a Christmas gift.
Game 5 - Jamus T. - Necrons
Vital Intelligence
My Secondaries:
- Stranglehold
- Data Intercept
- To the Last
Sam’s Secondaries:
- Engage
- Ancient Machinery
- Bring it Down
I’m going First.
Necrons are one of the few factions I don’t play but know fairly well. My partner plays them and I’ve done a lot of homework to help build up her forces (not to mention painting). The Void Dragon is also the C’Tan Shard I’m most familiar with, as that happens to be one of her favorite models in the range. Which meant, when I saw Jamus’ list, I felt confident that I knew what to do.
Jamus brought a lot of the juicy Necron choices and really leaned into some of the benefits of the new Balance Dataslate - not to mention something I would like to play myself one day. He was also running the entire list as Eternal Expansionist. I felt my Secondaries this time around were solid, as I could match if not exceed his model count in most situations. And that proved to hold true for the vast majority of our match. Which turned out to be one of the bloodiest and easily the best Warhammer 40k games I’ve ever played.
Given the length of this article already, I’ll forgo too much detail. The dice rolls got wacky and weird. A critical explosion removed a Wraith from an objective, which would have prevented me from scoring 10 points at the start of my second turn. A turn which saw me remove almost all of Jamus’ army from the table. I even thought I had the Void Dragon on the ropes, but he turned around and made some excellent and critical saves and started to carve up one War Dog after another. Though, this resulted in several more explosions that kept the Void Dragon honest and ultimately brought him down entirely.
At the end, the game entirely came down to making two saves on one War Dog. Fail them and Jamus won as that would completely wipe out one of my To the Lasts. It was just at that moment where I realized that if I succeeded we would, in fact, tie. And, honestly, I wouldn’t have had that game go any other way.
Jamus was an absolutely stellar opponent and I enjoyed giving ObSec Necrons a taste of their own medicine after not having any method of competing on that level before now. I think the lesson Jamus took from our match was to not sit down - because every time he did, his dice fell asleep on him.
Final Score - 74 to 74 - Just means we’ll have to play again.
Game 6 - Jeremy P. - Grey Knights
Battle Lines
My Secondaries:
- Stranglehold
- Vital Ground
- Abhor the Witch
Sam’s Secondaries:
- Engage
- Purifying Ritual
- Bring it Down
I’m going Second
End of the second day. I’m exhausted. Jeremy’s voice is raw. His first turn definitely put me in my place and let me tell you, I was not aware of just how well Grey Knights could screen out my advance - of which Jeremy was an absolute master of.
With a tie, I knew I wasn’t going to be heading to the top in the Second Pod. My focus now was just to play and have fun. Jeremy maneuvered his forces with cutthroat accuracy and my dice weren’t really working with me to make much of a dent on his Dreadknights. I was ready to go to an early dinner and even mentioned being more than happy to give him the game. I just didn’t have the energy to fight with my dice.
Then Jeremy went and told me he was competing with his son and son-in-law for points. Alright, that lit a new fire in my belly. If he wanted to play, I’d play.
My dice didn’t really improve. I was able to remove his squads and actually kept him to scoring 5 points on primary a turn. At this point, the game was just about staying alive and leaning really heavily into my new ObSec rules. Jeremy kept me off Stranglehold up until the last round but couldn’t stop me from snagging more primary points than him, or getting the 7 points from Vital Ground from the center objectives… And with an Advance roll of 6, I flung a War Dog onto his home objective and scored 21 points. Which, ultimately put me 5 ahead of Jeremy.
I think fresh, Jeremy would have taken that game easily. He’s got a keen eye for how movement works and I definitely took a few things away from that match.
Final Score - 78 to 73 - War Dogs deserve another rest after that one.
Day 3 - Wrap up
I did play on the final day. However, I ended up going up against the two Custode players who also tied. While I won against the first, my second game was a loss. Nevertheless, I achieved my ultimate goal, which was more Victories than Losses.
Wins: 5 / Losses: 2 / Ties: 1
End of the day, I placed 29th out of the 200-ish people who attended. I left with my head buzzing from exhaustion and the overall amazing experience that was the Austin Open. There is still a lot I’m processing through and ultimately this just served to reinvigorate me when it comes to my Chaos Knights. Hopefully we’ll see their Codex in the near-ish future and I’ll have some new toys to bring to the table. Overall though, the Balance Dataslate really did make a difference and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Until next time!
Author: Kevin 'War Dog' McC.
